The profession in the SFO
There is a widespread opinion among many Franciscan seculars and religious that the Profession of Secular Franciscans is a “second class” commitment, some kind of a “light” Profession.
Indeed, most people have foggy ideas on the value of Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order and because of this many Secular Franciscans do not live the “grace” of Profession for what it really is. A true nuptial alliance with Jesus Christ aimed at a further consecration to God and at accomplishing a closer bond to the Church to reach the perfection of love and the realization of Saint Francis mission.
The true and authentic answer is, instead, to be searched in history and in the very nature of our Order as the Sovereign Pontiffs have constantly affirmed:
“…, (Francis) founded a true Order, that of the Tertiaries, not restricted by religious vows, as the two preceding (Orders), but similarly conformed to simplicity of customs and to a spirit of penitence. So, he was the first to conceive and happily carry out, with the help of God, what no founder of regulars (religious Orders) had previously contrived, to have the religious life practiced by all.” (Benedict XV, Encyclical “Sacra Propediem” January 6, 1921)
“…you are also an ‘Order,’ as the Pope said (Pius XII): A Lay Order, but a Real Order;” and after all, Benedict XV had already spoken of “Ordo veri nominis”. This ancient term – we can say medieval – “Order” means nothing more than your intimate belonging to the large Franciscan family. The word “Order” means the participation in the discipline and actual austerity of that spirituality, while remaining in the autonomy typical of your lay and secular condition, which, moreover, often entails sacrifices which are not lesser than those experienced in the religious and priestly life.” (John Paul II, June 14, 1988, General Chapter, SFO)
This lesson on Profession will open the eyes to many candidates in formation as well as to many formators and professed members of the SFO in general and will undoubtedly give a new outlook to many Secular Franciscans on what they are, or ought to be, as Professed members of the SFO and on how to live their Franciscan vocation and mission.
PROFESSION IN THE SFO: GIFT And COMMITMENT
Fr. Felice Cangelosi OFM Cap
I. PROFESSION, a gift of the spirit
The Brothers and Sisters called to the Franciscan life in the Secular Fraternity make their Profession during a specific celebration according to the Ritual proper to the SFO. This aspect is by no means insignificant, because the celebration constitutes the foundational moment of the identity of the professed, and is simultaneously the condition for a dialogue to take place in response to God’s action. In fact, the consequences of the commitment a human being expresses by means of a promise derive from a prior commitment, that of God to man. The celebration of Profession testifies to all of this, because it is God’s action and a saving event: it is a moment when salvation reaches the faithful, enabling them to make a promise to live the Franciscan gospel life and producing in them particular effects of grace, by which they are deputed to specific tasks within the People of God. Only a person sanctified in the liturgical action, where (s)he fully experiences the immensity and force of God’s love, can be capable of a loving response. On the other hand, the celebration reflects the Church’s understanding of Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order. The liturgy, in fact, is always a confessio fidei, since in it, i.e. in its enactment during the ritual action, the Church proclaims authentically its own faith in the mystery of salvation, which is actualised in and for the faithful.
1. The grace of Profession
Those who make profession in the SFO say: “since the Lord has given me this grace, I renew my baptismal promises and consecrate myself to the service of His kingdom” (Formula of Profession). Dedication to the service of the kingdom comes about because the Lord gives a person the grace to consecrate himself to the cause of the Kingdom. Profession is a grace and gift of the Spirit. Not only is the Holy Spirit the source of the vocation of secular Franciscans (Const 11), since they are urged on by the Spirit to reach the perfection of charity in accordance with their own secular state (Rule 2); Profession also comes about by the working of the same Spirit. Therefore the “Preliminary Notes” of the Ritual (cfr. n. 7) state that “The SFO Ritual ... should fittingly display the gift of the Spirit and the evangelical life-project proper to the Secular Franciscan Order”.
The reference is first to the gift of the Spirit, and then to the gospel life-project, since the latter is neither conceivable nor possible without the forestalling inspiration of the grace of the Spirit. For the same reason, the candidates declare their intent to live the gospel life after the Holy Spirit has been invoked upon them:
“Lord, watch over these your servants. May the Spirit of your love penetrate their hearts, so that your grace will strengthen them to keep their commitment to the gospel life.” (Ritual II,30).
2. Profession: an action of the Church
Profession comes about through God’s intervention. But since God always acts through Christ, whose sacred humanity is the meeting point between God and man, and since today Christ lives and acts through the Church, it follows that Profession is simultaneously the action of Christ and of the Church, i.e. of the whole Body of Christ, Head and members. The language of the Constitutions is significant (42,1), defining Profession as a solemn ecclesialact (action), as is that of the Ritual (“Preliminary Notes” n. 13) which declares it as by its nature a public and ecclesial fact. It is both the one and the other: Profession is not only an action, it is also an event, or rather, a saving kairòs, a moment of salvation.
3. Profession and Fraternity
While maintaining the truth that Profession is by nature an ecclesial fact, an action of Christ and of the Church, the question arises: who are the subjects who concretely perform that action, or rather, how and in whom is the action of Christ and the Church manifested?
By Church the Ritual understands a particular liturgical assembly, made up of the people and the community of brothers and sisters, in other words, of the local fraternity of the Secular Order. The localfraternity makes the presence and action of the Church visible primarily in the Profession. Therefore “Profession, since it is by nature a public and ecclesial fact, must be celebrated in the presence of the fraternity”(Ritual, Preliminary Notes, n. 13).
The ultimate reason for this norm is found in the reality of the local fraternity: it is a visible sign of the Church, which is a community of faith and love (cfr. Rule 22; Ritual II, 29 d). The local fraternity is and must be a genuine ecclesial cenacle. By the same token, “secular Franciscans, gathered in fraternity and in union of spirit with all the People of God, celebrate the mystery of salvation revealed and communicated to usin Christ, with prayers and thanksgiving and renewing their promises to live a new life” (Ritual, Preliminary Notes, n. 3).
For this reason Profession is made in the presence of the assembled fraternity, which accepts the candidates’ request, since Profession is a gift given by the Father to that fraternity by incorporating new members into it. Grateful for the gift, the Fraternity is united to the prayer of those making profession, so that the Holy Spirit may bring to fulfilment the work He has begun.
The Ritual further develops these links with the Fraternity which the Profession or promise to live the gospel life creates. Profession produces «incorporation into the Secular Franciscan Order»; it therefore implies incorporation into a family – the Franciscan family - which is life-giving, with all the consequences that derive from belonging to the same spiritual family.
At the same time, Profession determines reciprocal attitudes, sentiments, relationships, duties and rights, etc. The “Preliminary Notes” (n. 14) of the Ritual, speaking of the nature of Profession in the SFO, say that it involves “the trust of the candidate, who relies on the help of the Rule of the SFO and of the Fraternity. Indeed the candidate will feel that (s)he is guided and helped by the Rule approved by the Church, and will experience the joy of participating in the journey of the gospel life with many brothers and sisters, from whom (s)he can receive but to whom (s)he can also give something. Once incorporated into the local Fraternity, which is a cell of the Church, (s)he will make his/her contribution to the renewal of the entire Church”.
These statements in the Ritual show:
- the liturgical foundation both of the Fraternity, which is essentially made up of reciprocal relationships, precisely as St Francis intended;
- the liturgical foundation of belonging to the SFO. For this reason, in the formula of Profession we find the invocation: “May the grace of the Holy Spirit, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and of St Francis and the fraternal communion help me alwaysso that I may attain the perfection of Christian charity” (Ritual II,31). The same need is expressed by the minister who receives the Profession: “Let us give thanks to God in this Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order. Your incorporation into it is a reason for hope and joy in the hearts of all the brothers and sisters” (Ritual II, 32).
Two key fraternal values of Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order emerge from the texts we have quoted.
1.It entails and produces the entrusting of self to the Fraternity on the part of the candidate. In Profession a covenant is established with the Brothers and Sisters, which can never be disregarded. The sacred bond of Profession, through which a perpetual commitment is established with God, (cfr. Rule 2; Const 42,2), has a number of fraternal sides to it which must be understood and lived precisely in the light of that “sworn pact” one has made with God.
2. With its liturgical foundation, Profession determines incorporationinto a local fraternity and through it, into the Order. Thus, we gradually come to see how the reality deriving from the celebration of Profession is not a matter of registration (“one is not enrolled into the SFO”), even though a document of profession is necessary. While it does have juridical implications, the concept and reality of incorporation goes beyond these and indicates that one becomes part of a living body, merged into a single organism, making a single reality. Incorporation entails the transformation of several realities into a single reality, through a process of absorption and assimilation.. It cannot simply be thought of as adding one thing to another (1+1); rather the fact is that the candidate is “extended” into the fraternity and vice versa, and this gives rise to a living being which is much larger and more complete. Rightly therefore does the minister turn to the new members of the Fraternity at the end of the rite of initiation and says to them: “By your presence and communion you enrich our fraternity in numbers and virtue” (Ritual I,16). Therefore the relationships established by Profession are spiritual and ecclesial in nature, since the local fraternity into which the candidate is incorporated is “the basic element of the entire Order and a visible sign of the Church, a community of love” (Rule 22; cfr. Const 47,1).
4. Ministries in the celebration of profession
The action of the celebrating Church-Fraternity finds specific expression in a multiplicity of ministries, exercised by persons who are called to carry out particular functions in the liturgical assembly
4.1. The candidates
The action of Christ and of the Church is expressed in the person of the candidates, who make the act of profession by promising to live the gospel life. They are baptised. Consequently Profession is a priestly action, proper to someone who by virtue of baptism, is already incorporated into the Church, a priestly Body, and is conformed to Christ, who is priest, prophet and king. The Candidates are or should (must) be confirmed. Consequently, Profession is a priestly action, proper to one who, having newly received the gift of the Holy Spirit in confirmation, has been empowered and deputed to celebrate the Eucharist and the sacraments, to live his or her life in an attitude of priestly worship and consequently to perform the priestly act of Profession.
The Ritual expressly provides that the candidates for Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order must have already received the sacrament of confirmation, using language which shows not only a temporal succession between three events (Baptism- Confirmation - Profession), but above all points to an intrinsic linking of the saving events themselves, making confirmation, as well as baptism, a basic requirement to live a professed life, for the reasons just stated: “You have been made members of the People of God by your baptism, and strengthened in confirmation by the new gift of the Spirit, in order to proclaim Christ by your life and your words.
Do you wish to bind yourself more closely to the Church?”
(Ritual II, 29 e).
4.2 The ministry of the Fraternity
The action of the Church is also made concretely visible in the presence of the minister of the Fraternity. This is clearly stated in the Constitutions and the Ritual:
“Profession is accepted by the minister of the local fraternity or by his or her delegate in the name of the Church and of the SFO. The rite is carried out according to the norms of the Ritual” (Const 42,3).
“Through the priest and the president (minister), who represents the fraternity, the Church accepts the commitment and the profession …” (Ritual, n. 9).
The Church acts through the priest and through the Minister, who represents the Fraternity and the Church. The Ritual defines more clearly the role of the Minister of the Fraternity and of the presiding priest, when it states:
“The commitment to the gospel life is received by the president (minister) in the name of the Church and of the fraternity. The priest presides over this rite as the witness of the Church and of the Franciscan Family”. (n. 16).
In the celebration of the Profession the Minister of the Fraternity exercises a true and proper liturgical ministry and has the function of a “sign”: (s)he makes visible and shows forth the presence and action of the Church, while the Church and the fraternity receive the Profession through the minister.
4.3 The presbyter
The priest who presides at the celebration is also defined as a “witness of the Church and of the Order” (Ritual, Preliminary Notes, n. 17). In order to understand the kind of witness he is, we need to go beyond juridical categories, because the action or event of Profession is sacramental in nature. Consequently the testimony of the priest is not juridical, but more properly sacramental and concerned with sanctification.
Certainly in the celebration of Profession the priest’s role is to vouch for the validity of the event. On the occasion of decisive events involving the life of a Christian, the Church always acts with an attitude of trepidation. In liturgical and sacramental actions the nature of the Church as a mother, rightly anxious about the fate of her children,comes to the fore. Hence the scrutinies or questioning of the parents prior to baptism, of the candidates for confirmation, of the couple before they give consent to marriage, and of those about to make religious profession of religious vows or declare their intent to live in chastity. The same applies to those who intend to make Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order
It is the priest’s job to ask those questions and receive the replies, because it is through him that the Church wishes to be reassured with regard to the awareness the candidates have of the meaning of Profession, their intentions and their genuine desire to be part of the Secular Franciscan Order. And this is not all; as an ecclesial act and precisely as such, Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order needs to be confirmed by the Church. This confirmation, too, belongs to the priest, who, after the candidates have read the formula of Profession, says: I confirm your commitment in the name of the Church” (Ritual II, 33).
Consequently the priest in the celebration of Profession is a: witness, who attests and manifests the presence and action of the Church; guarantor, who reassures the Church regarding the suitability of the candidates; one who ratifies, or confirms the promises in the name of the Church.
5.The gift of the Spirit in the celebration of Profession
The priest’s role is not limited to this, but also and especially concerns the whole area of sanctification, which is proper to liturgical acts. Even the celebration of Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order is geared to the sanctification of those who have been called to follow Christ after the example of St Francis of Assisi while remaining in their secular state. Sanctification is always the work of the Father, but it is channelled through the mediation of Christ and of the Church, and is realised in the Holy Spirit. The mediation of Christ and of the Church is especially manifested in the action of the priest, because he alone acts in persona Christi.